Intentions to Marry, 1915 Rangiora to Chatham Islands (includes Otago)

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840462, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1915 is bound in six volumes (a to f) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1915f contains pages 2619-3266, covering districts from Rangiora to Chatham Islands (includes Otago)

Page 3175

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar S. G. Petri

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

234

20 December 1915

James George Oates
Elsie Ann Margaret Wood

James George Oates
Elsie Ann Margaret Ward
💍 1915/7319

Bachelor
Spinster

Quarry Manager
Dressmaker

28
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

5 days
8 years

Methodist Church, Leet Street, Invercargill

9832

20 December 1915

Rev. G. Clement

No	234
Date of Notice	20 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James George Oates	Elsie Ann Margaret Wood
BDM Match (96%)	James George Oates	Elsie Ann Margaret Ward
	💍 1915/7319
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Quarry Manager	Dressmaker
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 days	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Leet Street, Invercargill
Folio	9832
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Clement

235

20 December 1915

Frederick Barnard Lawrence
Fanny Sampson

Frederick Barnard Lawrence
Fanny Sampson
💍 1915/7378

Bachelor
Spinster

New Zealand Field Ambulance
Domestic

30
21

Awapuni
Invercargill

3 months
21 years

Methodist Church, Leet Street, Invercargill

9843

20 December 1915

Rev. W. Ready

No	235
Date of Notice	20 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Barnard Lawrence	Fanny Sampson
	💍 1915/7378
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	New Zealand Field Ambulance	Domestic
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Awapuni	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Leet Street, Invercargill
Folio	9843
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Ready

236

20 December 1915

Thomas Frederick Perry
Matilda McEe

Thomas Frederick Perry
Matilda McGee
💍 1915/7356

Bachelor
Spinster

Professional Rough Rider
Tailoress

22
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
22 years

Registrar's Office, Invercargill

9845

20 December 1915

Registrar

No	236
Date of Notice	20 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Frederick Perry	Matilda McEe
BDM Match (92%)	Thomas Frederick Perry	Matilda McGee
	💍 1915/7356
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Professional Rough Rider	Tailoress
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Invercargill
Folio	9845
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

237

20 December 1915

James Augustus Mayze Freer
Margaret Colquhoun Adair

James Augustus Mayze Fredric
Margaret Colquhoun Adair
💍 1915/1101

Widower
Spinster

Plumber
Tailoress

34
29

Invercargill
Dunedin

30 years
28 years

Presbyterian Church, South Dunedin

8445

20 December 1915

Rev. R. Fairmaid

No	237
Date of Notice	20 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Augustus Mayze Freer	Margaret Colquhoun Adair
BDM Match (95%)	James Augustus Mayze Fredric	Margaret Colquhoun Adair
	💍 1915/1101
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Tailoress
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Dunedin
Length of Residence	30 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, South Dunedin
Folio	8445
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Fairmaid

238

21 December 1915

Gordon Frederick Leith
Eva Mildred Varcoe

Gordon Frederick Leith
Eva Mildred Vercoe
💍 1915/7318

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Housemaid

28
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

18 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill

9831

21 December 1915

Rev. R. M. Ryburn

No	238
Date of Notice	21 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Frederick Leith	Eva Mildred Varcoe
BDM Match (97%)	Gordon Frederick Leith	Eva Mildred Vercoe
	💍 1915/7318
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Housemaid
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	18 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tay Street, Invercargill
Folio	9831
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. M. Ryburn

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).